New evidence against drinking in pregnancy

AAP and staff writers

Drinking dangers ... new research suggests there's more to fetal alcohol syndrome than previously thought.

Damage caused to unborn children as a result of maternal drinking in pregnancy is more varied than previously believed.

While most children of women who drink heavily during pregnancy don't exhibit the typical visible symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), the number of those with impairment to the central nervous system is alarming, according to a recent report in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Central nervous system problems occurred with 44 percent of the children of drinking mothers, compared with 14 percent of other children

In the initial investigation, a team from the US National Institutes of Health selected 101 pregnant women in Chile. All the women said they had consumed at least four drinks every day.

Another 101 women who had abstained completely were used as a control while all the children were observed by doctors up to the age of eight and a half. The doctors weren't told which mothers were the drinkers or non-drinkers.

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Four-fifths of the drinking women gave birth to children with at least one anomaly. Central nervous system problems occurred with 44 percent of the children, compared with 14 percent for the children of abstaining mothers.

Children exposed to large quantities of alcohol in the womb also exhibited behavioural problems much more often than other children, and had more problems with learning and language.

Observable symptoms of FAS, such as smaller head measurements, a flat appearance to the centre of the face and a narrow upper lip, were found less often than expected. About 17 percent of the children of drinking mums had these facial characteristics, while the figure dropped to 1 percent with the abstaining mothers.

Binge drinking, defined as more than 60g of alcohol a day, was seen by the researchers as particularly harmful.

"Our study shows that binge drinking represents a greater risk factor, even if the woman in any case drinks large quantities of alcohol every day," one of the team leaders, Edward Riley, said.

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Does research like this influence your ideas on drinking in pregnancy? Comment below.

2 comments so far

Whoa, 14 percent of children born to abstaining mothers had central nervous system problems?!

Commenter

sam_gamgee

Location

Perth

Date and time

August 14, 2012, 2:39PM

I would have prefered if the title to this article included the worlds 'binge drinking' rather than just alcohol. It immediately makes you think that it is alcohol per se, rather than binge drinking. There is a continum that alot of pregnant mothers are trying to battle with when deciding what to consume/avoid during pregnancy in terms of their alcohol intake. This just adds to the scare factor.

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